


Wait For Me to Come Home

by lover_of_many_things



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Carmilla AU, F/F, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, not sure about other ships at the moment, there will most likely be laferry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-20
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-03-08 10:15:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3205556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lover_of_many_things/pseuds/lover_of_many_things
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura is an up-and-coming actress passionate about many things including music. Carmilla is a musician seemingly passionate about nothing except music. Hollstein celebrity AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

“Do you always have to do this so roughly?” Laura practically whines.

She winces as the brush is swiftly tugged, getting rid of the remaining tangles in her hair. She looks in the mirror to see her stylist behind her and is met with a set face and a raised eyebrow. Betty snaps the hair straightener in her hand closed loudly, or at least loud enough to make Laura jump slightly in her seat.

“Do you want me to finish or not?”

See, the first thing Laura learned about Betty was that she doesn’t take crap. From anybody. She’s also not particularly fond of whining, despite whining herself quite a lot, and has stopped, more than once, in the middle of getting Laura ready when she thinks Laura is complaining about it too much. Despite everything, Laura would never dream of getting rid of Betty; she is one of the best in the business and Laura considers her a pretty close friend, although Laura’s not quite sure if Betty returns the sentiment.

Hearing the underlying threat of “you stop or I’ll stop”, Laura immediately shuts her mouth, straightens her back, and nods. “Yes. Please, continue. It doesn’t hurt at all. I’m a professional.”

“I hate to be the one who breaks this to you, L, but professionals don’t usually kick their feet when they sit,” LaFontaine says as they enter the room, hearing the tail end of Laura and Betty’s short conversation.

“Ha ha. Very funny,” Laura rolls her eyes, and then realizes that she actually is kicking her feet and crosses her ankles instead. Laura starts to turn her head to talk to LaF, but a glare from Betty keeps her from doing so. She stays facing the mirror and decides that just talking is fine, “So what are you doing here? Not that I don’t enjoy your company or anything—it’s just, shouldn’t you be doing,” Laura rolls her hand in the air while she talks, “agent-y type things?”

LaF moves to sit in an empty chair next to Laura’s before they talk. “Normally, yes, you’d be correct. But, today I am filling the role of best friend and not agent. Perr told me how nervous you were this morning.”

“I’m not  _that_  nervous.”

“She said she had to get you a new shirt to wear.”

“…that is possibly something that happened.”

LaFontaine laughs and shakes their head. “You’re going to be fine; it’s not like this is your first time doing an interview.”

Laura takes a deep breath and nods. “Yeah, but it’s the first one for this movie. I want it to go well.” As soon as Laura stops talking Betty finishes her hair and places the straightener on the space in front of the mirror.

“Alright, you’re done,” Betty looks between LaF and Laura, “let me know how it goes; I’ll see you tomorrow.” Betty quickly packs up her things and leaves the room, giving Laura a small, encouraging smile.

Laura turns in her chair to face LaF. “So where  _is_  Perry?”

“I think she’s getting you the hot chocolate that you didn’t ask for right now.”

“She works way too hard. You should be calming her down right now, not me.”

LaF hops out of the chair, “You’re right on that one, L. You’re sure you’re okay though?” Laura gives LaF a look and they raise their hands up defensively before heading toward the door. They open it and their face immediately sours. “Lawrence.” They give a curt nod before brushing past the tall woman now entering the green room.

“Bye LaF! Hey Danny…I’m getting a lot of unexpected visitors today.”  Laura smiles as Danny takes the seat where LaF had been. Danny gives Laura an almost awkward smile before clearing her throat.

“Yeah, I just wanted to remind you to relax and try not to speak too quickly when you get excited. We don’t want to have to do half the interview all over again.”

“Come on, that was  _one_  time.”

“I know, it’s just…never mind, good luck! Please don’t make me have to do my job and keep information from spreading.”

“It’ll be fine.” Laura waves off Danny’s concern before bouncing her knee up and down anxiously, everyone else’s concern making her concerned.

“Alright, I’ll see you later.” Laura nods in affirmation as Danny gets up and leaves the room.

Laura immediately turns back to the mirror and groans but resists letting her head thunk against the table in front of her solely because Betty would rip her a new one if her hair got messed up. Laura takes a deep, calming breath and gently runs a hand through her hair before reaching into her pocket and taking out her phone. She ignores the text messages once she deems them as unimportant at the moment and goes to her music. She searches through her playlists, she has one for nearly every mood or occasion, and plays the one that reads ‘Relax! You’ve Got This, Girl :)’.

She places her phone on the table in front of the mirror and tries to relax for the few minutes she has left to herself. She’s scheduled to do seven consecutive interviews today for her new movie. It’s not like she hasn’t done interviews and hasn’t been on a press tour before, but she always tends to get nervous no matter how small the interview. Compared to other people in the business, she’s still an amateur in interview talking.

“Girl the hell up, everything is gonna be fine, Laura.” Yes, she is talking to herself in the mirror, but she finds it comforting.

After five minutes of listening to music and periodically giving herself small pep talks in the mirror, there’s a knock on the door and then she’s off to her first interview.

By the final interview, Laura is officially wiped out and in need of a sugar boost. Thankfully for Laura, Perry thinks ahead and by the time Laura is almost trudging to her final interview, Perry is at her side with a cup of hot chocolate and a snack pack of Oreos. Laura contemplates tackling the woman in a hug but decides against it. “Perry, you are a god send. Have I told you that lately? I forgot how draining this can be.”

Perry purses her lips. “Yes, well, next time I’m bringing you a smoothie and a banana; you really need a healthier diet.” Laura laughs and she can’t help but agree, she really did eat junk food all the time. She eats her Oreos and finishes her hot cocoa, enjoying how it spreads warmth through her body, right before walking into interview room.

The one good thing about her schedule for the day is that this final interview is supposedly going to be the most laid back. She just has to answer the traditional interview questions about the movie and then a couple of random ones. Easy Peasey. She makes her way in front of the interview set up and goes to introduce herself to the interviewer. “Hi there, I’m Laura. It’s nice to meet you.” Laura smiles and shakes her interviewer who she learns is named Cheryl’s hand. They both sit down after their introductions and Laura fidgets to find a comfortable spot in the chair as they start filming. She finds a comfortable spot just as Cheryl starts speaking.

“Thank you for being here, Laura.”

“Thank you for having me!” Laura smiles.

“Now, before I start with the questions I just have to say that the movie is amazing, and you are so good in it.”

“Thank you so much, I’m glad you liked it!”

“First of all, what got you interested in the movie? What made  _Ripple Effect_ catch your attention?”

“Really it was the script. The script was beautifully written and the story it tells is amazing.”

“Speaking of the story, you play quite a complicated character,” Laura nods in agreement, “how was it playing Sarah? What similarities do you have? By what I’ve witnessed so far, you don’t have much in common.”

Laura laughs and runs a hand through her hair. “It was really interesting actually. She is, like you said, a very complicated character and it was fun to delve into that. As far as similarities go, well, there are more than you’d think. I definitely share her determination and probably her stubbornness, as much as I don’t want to admit it. I have an interest in journalism but that’s tiny compared to her dedication to it. Really, what we have the most in common with is passion; Sarah is passionate in everything she does no matter what. She will do anything to get that story, and I like to think that I’m as passionate as she is with journalism with acting. Sorry if that was a long answer.”

Cheryl shakes her head. “That was a great answer. I could definitely see that passion there. Like I said before, you are great in the movie; do you think maybe it’s possible for a repeat of last year? That maybe an Oscar nomination is coming along?”

Laura’s eyes widen almost comically at the question. “Oh geez! I haven’t thought about that at all to be honest. It was a big enough surprise to me when I was nominated last year.”

“How exciting would that be though? You get nominated for the first two big movies you’ve ever done, and at only 24 too?”

Laura laughs. “Honestly, that sounds a little more nerve racking than exciting, but it would be amazing.”

Cheryl nods in understanding. “Alright, now onto the fun questions. Favorite TV show?”

“Oh no…” Laura bites her lip in thought for a moment, “currently it’s Orphan Black—I mean, how could it not be? Tatiana Maslany is amazing—but overall it’s probably Buffy.”

“Cats or Dogs?”

“Cats! Although, sadly I do not have one.”

“Coffee or tea?”

“Oh geez, these are like rapid fire. Coffee.”

“Chocolate or-“

“Chocolate. It’s always gonna be chocolate.” Laura grins and Cheryl laughs.

“Okay, final question. What are you listening to right now?”

Laura changes her position as she thinks and sits up straighter. “I listen to a lot of different kinds of music; if it sounds good to my ears then I like it,” Laura chuckles, “recently I have been particularly fixated on this band called Not Vampires, they’re pretty amazing, and everyone should check them out. Sadly, I haven’t had the chance to see them live yet, but I’d absolutely love to, especially since the lead singer is really h-“ Laura catches herself before she says that the lead singer of one of her favorite bands is really hot in an interview. Not because she is gay, she is completely open about that to everyone, but because it’s being filmed and sent out for the public to see so she really doesn’t want to embarrass herself. “A good singer, I mean, she’s a really good singer.” Laura bites her lip and hopes that that was a good enough save.

“I’ll have to check them out,” Laura nods, possibly a little too much. “It was so great meeting you, Laura.”

“Yeah, it was really great meeting you too, Cheryl. I hope we can do another interview sometime.” She smiles and reaches over to shake Cheryl’s hand, hearing the “All good!” from the camera man. “Really though, this was probably the most relaxing interview of my day and the questions were a nice mix up from the ones all the other interviews asked, so thank you.”

“Anytime, I’d love to do an interview with you again.”

Almost immediately after saying her thanks and goodbyes, Laura is whisked away by Perry and LaF to her next destination: home, finally. Laura lets out a long breath; it feels really nice to relax after a long day. The only downside to her relaxation plans is that she has to be on a plane heading to England at three o’ clock in the morning in order to do interviews and start the press tour with the rest of the cast.   

 

                                                           

Carmilla rolls off of her couch groggily at the continuous knocking at her door, which is doing nothing to help the state of her headache. She stumbles to the door, mumbling curses under her breath whenever she trips or whenever the knocking is particularly loud. Throwing the door open, she fixes her visitor with a glare that makes babies and adults cry—she had tested it on both before.

Standing on her doormat is Kirsch, his hand still raised to knock again, and her glare changes to the one she has reserved just for him. Carmilla merely tolerates Kirsch because he is Will’s friend and a pretty decent drummer, not that she’d ever admit that. Despite her glare, that honestly he has grown used to by now, Kirsch has a big grin on his face. He enters her apartment, nearly knocking the barely awake and highly hung-over Carmilla on her ass. He spots the empty and half empty bottles of various types of alcohol on the coffee table, as well as the dishevelment of the couch, but he decides it best not to comment on it. He knows that would result in an even grumpier Carmilla—if that were possibly. He wouldn’t put it past the woman.

Carmilla is still trying to process what just happened by the time Kirsch has turned back to her and starts talking. Her head is pounding and she closes her front door, leaning her head onto the cooler surface and doesn’t even register anything that Kirsch is saying. She shuffles into her small kitchen, gets a glass of water, and takes some aspirin. She shuffles to the opening of the kitchen and leans against the wall, taking a sip as she starts paying attention enough to catch the tail end of what Kirsch was talking about.

“—And I just think that would be pretty cool, ya know?”

Carmilla blinks and takes another sip of her water. “What are you saying?” Her voice is low and rough, more than usual, but that’s to be expected when she’s just woken up and she’s spent most of the night and morning drinking quite a lot.  Kirsch sighs but reiterates what he was saying before.

“I was just saying that Laura Hollis, the little hottie whose movies you like but you don’t want to admit that you actually like, said in an interview that she likes the band! Which is huge for us, and I already told Will ‘cause, duh, he’s my closest bro, but you should check out the interview. Also I sort of know the little nerd hottie ‘cause we’re from the same town and went to school together. Maybe I could invite her to a show sometime.”

Carmilla blinks again, trying to process everything that just came pouring out of Kirsch’s mouth. She’s silent as her brain plays catch up and Kirsch gets a worried look on his face. Carmilla notices and speaks up before he turns into a literal kicked puppy—she’s pretty sure that might happen one day. “Yeah, sure fine…whatever. I’ll check it out later at some time that isn’t the crack of dawn.”

“Dude, it’s like three-thirty in the afternoon.” Carmilla gives Kirsch a look and he immediately starts to walk toward the door. “Yep, alright see you later. Have a good morning Carm-sexy!” Kirsch gives Carmilla an over exaggerated wink and lets out a loud laugh as he leaves, almost slamming the door closed after him.

Carmilla sighs and moves into the living room to sit back down on the couch. She finishes her glass of water and eyes a half full bottle of rum on the table; she shakes her head to herself and runs her hand through her tangled hair, hand catching on a couple of bad knots a several times before she can get it all the way through. She runs her hands down her face and finally notices the bunched up pieces of paper littered among the empty bottles on the floor around the couch. She bends down to pick one up, straightens it out, and starts to read what is written on it. She gets halfway down the page before she crumples it up again, worse than it was before, gathers the rest of the balls of paper on the ground, and goes to throw them away.

She tosses them in the metal bin and considers setting them on fire, but decides against it simply because she can’t afford to have the landlord kick her out. Sure, she could crash at Will’s place, but them living together is a disaster waiting to happen and she’d rather not experience that disaster yet. So she holds off on setting fires in trashcans. For now.

Just as she’s about to go sit down, there’s a beeping sound that catches her attention. She looks around until her eyes land on her landline phone. She picks up the phone and a robotic feminine voice says “Voicemail full.” Carmilla scowls and hangs up the phone before unplugging the receiver. She doesn’t want to hear any of those messages; she already knows what each one is going to say. 

She makes her way back to the couch, tripping over various items strewn across the floor, and plops face down onto it before adjusting herself onto her side.

She doesn’t remember falling asleep, but she must have because when she’s opening her eyelids and they’re heavy. She takes her cell phone out, squinting at the brightness of the screen, and sees that it’s already 8pm. Her headache has been reduced to a dull thud and she sits up with a small groan. She gets up from the couch and shuffles out of the living, down the hall and into her bedroom. She grabs a clean outfit from her drawers and heads into the bathroom to take a shower. The shower is long and she uses up all the hot water; for most of the shower she is just letting the warm water wash over her as she leans her head, eyes closed, against the tiled wall and only starts actually showering when the water starts going cold.

She steps out of the shower, towel dries her hair, and gets dressed. Barefoot, she pads through her apartment into the kitchen and grabs some left over Chinese she had from the night before from the fridge. After heating it up again, she grabs her laptop and her Chinese food, and sits back down on her couch—it’s sort of the hub of her apartment. Laptop on lap and Chinese food in hand, she turns the device on and immediately opens her browser, going to YouTube.

Between forkfuls of Chow Mein Carmilla types ‘Laura Hollis interview Ripple Effect’ into the search bar. So what if she already knows the title of the movie, it’s common knowledge and doesn’t mean anything. There aren’t many results for exactly what she searched because the press tour just started—not that she keeps up with that at all—and most of the screen is full of other videos that have slightly faded screen caps with the word ‘Watched’ going along the top left corner—no comment—so Carmilla clicks on the most recent video that there is. She puts the video on full screen and lets it play as she eats more of her dinner (breakfast?).

There are the basic interview questions that every interviewer asks, and then a couple of partly related questions to the movie that were badly segued to. Laura still answers each question excitedly, as if she hasn’t been asked the same question a million times. The video ends without any mention of the band, so Carmilla clicks on the next one. She notices that Laura’s clothes are the same, so she guesses that Laura did all these interviews in the same day. She goes through each interview, chuckling sometimes at Laura’s answers or the way she stumbles over her words when she tries to organize her answer into a coherent sentence.

She’s about to watch the sixth one when she notices that this one has a considerable amount of more views than the others, which granted isn’t more than a couple thousand, but the interviews have only been up for two days so that’s still a pretty big difference. She clicks on the video and makes it full screen like before. The beginning is the same, questions about the movie, and Laura answers quite passionately in spite of being asked the questions six times already that day, but then the interviewer moves into what she guesses would be called ‘fun’ questions—any interview is a nightmare to her.

_“Favorite TV show?”_

_“Oh no…” Laura bites her lip in thought for a moment, “currently it’s Orphan Black—I mean, how could it not be? Tatiana Maslany is amazing—but overall it’s probably Buffy.”_

Carmilla doesn’t really watch television all that much, so she really doesn’t know what shows Laura is talking about.

_“Cats or Dogs?”_

_“Cats! Although, sadly I do not have one.”_

“Duh.” Carmilla practically scoffs; cats are the best.

_“Coffee or tea?”_

_“Oh geez, these are like rapid fire. Coffee.”_

_“Chocolate or-“_

_“Chocolate. It’s always gonna be chocolate.” Laura grins and the interviewer laughs._

Carmilla’s lip quirks up slightly at Laura’s grin, and she immediately takes another forkful of Chow Mein in order to keep herself from smiling at all.

_“Okay, final question. What are you listening to right now?”_

Carmilla sits up straighter at the question, much like Laura does in the video, still chewing on her food.

_“I listen to a lot of different kinds of music; if it sounds good to my ears then I like it,” Laura chuckles, “recently I have been particularly fixated on this band called Not Vampires, they’re pretty amazing, and everyone should check them out. Sadly, I haven’t had the chance to see them live yet, but I’d absolutely love to, especially since the lead singer is really h-“_

Laura seems to catch herself.

_“A good singer, I mean, she’s a really good singer.”_

Carmilla stops chewing as Laura is talking and raises an eyebrow at her answer to the question. If Carmilla didn’t know any better she’d think Laura nearly slipped and called her hot. She doesn’t know any better and that’s exactly what she thinks. She finishes chewing, places the container of Chinese on the table, and smirks as the interview comes to a close after Laura’s practically endorsement of her band.

Opening a new tab, she goes to twitter, logs onto the band’s account, and looks at the influx of tweets and followers there are, one of which is Laura Hollis. Kirsch is already interacting with everyone and Will has tweeted a few things, so Carmilla’s sighs and decides it’s finally time to take the plunge. She logs onto her own twitter account, which she’s managed to keep very private and isolated for a long time and tweets to the band’s account and Kirsch.

_@heycarmilla: @NotVampires @Zetabro you tweet nearly as much as you talk in real life._

Almost immediately, Carmilla starts gaining followers as Kirsch tweets her back in all caps wondering how long she’s had a twitter. Carmilla sighs and logs off, shutting her laptop and gets up to grab her pen and notebook. She opens the notebook to the most recently written page and reads it over before continuing where she left off before. Almost immediately, she is interrupted by her phone going off, notifying her of a text.

She unlocks her phone to see that she has a text from ‘Willy Boy’ and rolls her eyes before opening it.

_(9:13 pm) From Willy Boy: You’re at the store tmrw right?_

_(9:13 pm) To Willy Boy: Hello to you too dearest brother._

_(9:14 pm) To Willy Boy: Yep._

_(9:16 pm) From Willy Boy: Hi. Alright, practice after you close?_

_(9:16 pm) To Willy Boy: Sure_

_(9:17 pm) From Willy Boy: I’ll let Kirsch know. See you tomorrow_

_(9:21 pm) From Willy Boy: Don’t drink yourself into a stupor._

Carmilla stares at the text and looks up at the half empty bottle of rum on the table, she sighs and takes the rum, putting it back with the rest of her liquor in the kitchen. She has to get up early in the morning anyway.

_(9:24 pm) To Willy Boy: Sure_

Carmilla begrudgingly cleans up the rest of the mess around the couch from last night, putting the empty bottles in the recycling and throwing away the rest of the Chinese food that she didn’t eat. When she finishes she looks around and figures she’s cleaned up enough so she returns to her notebook and pen.

It gets to be one o’clock in the morning before Carmilla even considers going to bed. She closes her notebook and places it on the table, the pen on top of it. She goes to the bathroom to do her nightly routine but doesn’t bother changing out of her clothes. When she exits the bathroom she looks across the room at her bedroom door briefly before going back to the couch, hoping to get some sleep before she has to wake up at eight and head to the store. She sets the alarm on her phone and rolls onto her side on the couch, lyrics running through her head as she closes her eyes.


	2. I Swear It Will Get Easier

Laura leans back in the desk chair in her hotel room, scrolling through her emails, as LaF lies on the bed and flips through the TV channels. They stop on some nature documentary about parasites and become immediately absorbed in all the information. Laura glances up at the television screen and her eyes widen.

“What is that!?"

“I think they said it was a hairworm? It’s really interesting though. It infects insects like crickets and then takes over control of their body, making them commit suicide by jumping into water so it can reproduce. They jump in pools a lot and then sometimes can go into human bodies through cuts and stuff.” LaF explains without once taking their eyes off the screen, not noticing Laura pale a bit.

“Just don’t tell my dad that. He’d be adamant against me ever going into a pool again. Although after that science lesson pools don’t sound all that appealing at the moment.” Laura watches the television as the hairworm exits the cricket’s body and goes into the water.

A loud ringing makes her jump and she digs through her bag in order to get her other phone—her old flip phone. “Oh thank god,” grateful for the distraction from the show, she takes out the phone and answers it. “Hi Dad! I was just talking about you.” Laura holds her phone in between her shoulder and ear and leans back again in the computer chair. “No, nope. Just good things, I promise.” Laura starts spinning slowly in the chair. “Uh-huh…Yeah, yep. I know… It’s fine. We’re fine… It’s a bit tiring and hectic, but I’ll get through it…it’s fun, everyone’s nice. Alright…alright, I’ll tell them you said so…I love you too. I’ll talk to you soon. Bye!”

Laura flips her phone shut and places it onto the table next to her other phone before turning back to LaF. “My dad says ‘Hi’” LaF hums and nods in acknowledgement.

“So how is your dad doing anyway?”

“He’s fine. He still has his safety concerns, but he’s learning that I’m an adult now and that I make my own decisions. At least I think he is.”

LaFontaine laughs, “Yeah. That totally explains why you still have a phone exclusively just for answering his phone calls.”

Laura shrugs. “That’s just more out of habit now than anything, plus it’s like I have a family phone and a work phone.”

“Alright Hollis, I’ll accept that answer.” Laura is about to retort when she’s met with a face full of pillow. She snatches it off of her face and narrows her eyes.

“Oh, it is on.” Another pillow hits her in the face. Her nose scrunches up a bit. “…This means war.”

LaF snorts. “Bring it.”

Within seconds, the hotel room becomes a flurry of pillows being thrown back and forth. Laura nails a pillow right in LaF’s face and raises a fist in victory, only to have the comforter of the bed thrown on top of her. They are so absorbed in their pillow battle that they don’t hear the hotel door open. Laura, with the comforter still on top of her, is about to throw a pillow back at LaF, when she hears a sigh come from the entrance of the room and freezes. LaF hears the sigh and grimaces before turning to its owner. “Hey Perr…”

Perry looks at the pillows strewn about the room and then between the frazzled looking LaF and comforter covered Laura. “I should’ve known better than to leave you two alone for this long. I swear, you two are overgrown children.”

LaF runs a hand through their hair to straighten it out. “You are mistaken, Perr. I may be an overgrown child sometimes, but L is just a normal sized one.” This earns LaF another pillow to the head and they chuckle as Laura huffs, finally throwing off the comforter.

“You’re only a couple inches taller than me.”

Perry clears her throat causing Laura and LaF to fall silent and give her their full attention. “It’s our first day off in a while and for a while, so what do you want to spend it doing?” Perry starts collecting the pillows on the floor around her as she talks. Laura groans at the mention of her busy schedule and slides off of the desk chair onto the ground, wrapping the comforter around her. LaF looks at Laura, then back to Perry and shrugs. Perry places the pillows back onto the bed, stepping over Laura to pick up more.

Laura peeks her head out of the comforter. “Are you cleaning around me?”

Perry steps back over Laura to place the remaining pillows back on the bed. “Yes, I am. Now if you guys have no idea what to do, I did see a flier for an art gallery while I was out getting brownies.” The mention of brownies catches Laura’s attention and she immediately looks around the room until she sees a plastic bag by the door. Gathering the covers around her, Laura shuffles over to the bag, grabs a brownie, and immediately starts munching on it.

“You guys can go and do that if you want to, I think I’ll stick around here for today and catch up on sleep and shows.”

Perry nods. “Alright, we’ll tell you how it is I guess. Feel free to join us if you change your mind though. Also, try not to eat all the brownies. And please eat at least one fruit or vegetable today. Make sure you drink enough water too, and-“ LaF grabs Perry’s hand and laces their fingers together, stopping her from going on a health rant. LaF stands from the bed, slipping on their shoes.

“Alright L, we’ll see you later. Call us if you need us, and don’t fall into a sugar coma.” LaF gives Laura a small salute and squeezes Perry’s hand gently as they leave Laura’s hotel room.

Laura calls after them to have fun, but the brownie in her mouth makes it come out as, “Hab pun!” She finishes eating her brownie before grabbing her “work” phone—it’s really the phone she uses for everything except calling her dad—and another brownie before plopping down on the bed. She places the brownie in her mouth to hold it as she spreads the comforter that was previously wrapped around her on the bed. She wiggles around to get comfortable, moving the pillows, finishing the brownie, and eventually settling on her side.

Once she’s comfortable she opens up her Netflix app and starts the episode of _Parks and Rec_ that she left off on. After a few episodes and a lot of laughing, she locks her phone and tosses it next to her. She flips onto back and looks at the spackled ceiling of the hotel room, searching for different shapes and patterns. Most of what she finds is just squiggles but she did find a rose bud; she just lost track of it and can’t find it again. After a few minutes of ceiling-gazing, something that’s become sort of a habit to Laura with all the hotel rooms she stays in, Laura feels the past week of straight interviews, panels, and travelling catch up with her. Her eyelids become heavy, so she closes her eyes and lets sleep take over.

 

Laura wakes with a start at the sound of her phone ringing. She groans and throws her hand around the bed until it lands on her phone. She cracks an eye open to answer her phone and brings it to her ear. “Hello?” Her voice does nothing to hide her grogginess.

“Hi Laura, did I wake you?” It’s Perry. Laura throws her free hand over her face and wipes at her eyes.

“Yeah, but you’re fine. What’s up?”

“I just wanted to check up on you and make sure everything is alright. Have you had anything to eat yet? We can bring you something back if you want.” Laura takes a moment to process Perry’s words.

“Uhhh…everything’s fine, but you don’t have to bring anything back. I’ll go out and get something.” She pulls her phone away from her ear and glances at the time, _3:30 pm_. “I’ll grab a late lunch.”

“Alright, we’re going back to our room soon so we’ll see you later.”  There’s a scuffling on the other side of the call as LaF says something unintelligible in the background.

“Sounds good, Perry. Bye!”

“Bye Laura.” Perry and LaF say at the same time before hanging up. Laura ends the call, drops the phone from her hand and it lands on the bed. She rolls off the bed and decides that she should probably change out of her sweats now. Shuffling to her suitcase, she strips of her usual pajamas and changes into a pair of jeans and her favorite flannel. She quickly runs a brush through her hair, grabs her phone, purse, and coat, slips on her shoes, and heads out of the hotel room.

She exits the hotel and makes her way to the nearby café that she has been frequenting during her stay at the hotel. It’s a quaint, little place and it’s close enough to the hotel that Laura knows she won’t get lost. She has her heart set on a cup of hot cocoa and a nice croissant that she’s grown fond of over the past week when there’s a bright flashing from the corner of her eye. Paparazzi.

“Aw man…” Laura has a tendency to forget that she’s famous. She quickens her pace to the café, enters, and heads to a table that isn’t in front of a window. She gets a couple of looks and second glances, but no one approaches her, not that she’d really mind; she loves interacting with other people. She heads to the counter and places her order. She fishes out her money from her purse, hands it to the barista, and moves to the side while the barista gets her order. Once her order is in her hands she wishes the barista a good day and sits back down at her table. After taking a sip of her cocoa and a bite of her croissant, she takes out her phone. The little notification at the bottom of her phone notifies her of some new emails and she figures now’s as good a time as any to look through them.

She opens up her emails and starts reading them; some are spam, some are coupons for different stores, and some are for actual work related things. She reads through the work related emails, making notes of the ones that she’d have to bring up to LaF later. She clicks out of the last email and back to her inbox when another email comes in. Laura doesn’t recognize the address so it might be spam, but she figures just looking at it won’t cause any harm (plus having the little notifications on the bottom of the screen really annoys her). She taps on the new email and alternates between drinking her hot chocolate and eating her croissant with her free hand.

The email opens and Laura furrows her eye brows as her eyes scan the words.

_Hey Laura,_

_I don’t know if you remember me, my name is Kirsch, but we are from the same home town and we went to school together. I used to call you ‘little nerd hottie’._

Laura is definitely confused. Sure, she remembers Kirsch; it would be hard to forget the big lug, but why did he email her? And how did he even get her email address?

_Anyway, it took some digging and asking around old friends to find anyone who had your current email address, but I swear this is for something important. So I saw your interview the other day (congrats on all that stuff btw) and noticed that you said you like the band ‘Not Vampires’. I’m actually in the band, I play drums, and I was like ‘dude! This is awesome!’. Anyway, I know that you’re probably super busy, especially right now, but next time you’re back home, you should let me know so that you can come to a show or something. Good luck with the interviews and stuff, still little-now famous, hottie. Email or tweet me back anytime._

_An old bro,_

_Brody Kirsch_

            Laura is sure that her mouth must be agape right now. She places her phone down next to the remnants of her late lunch and just takes a moment. Kirsch. Big, literal over-sized puppy dog Kirsch from her hometown is in one of her favorite bands. And he just invited her to one of their shows…which would mean that there’s a possibility of Laura meeting their lead singer. Laura closes her mouth and snatches her phone up from the table, eager to reply.

_Hey Kirsch,_

_Of course I remember you! You’re a bit hard to forget. I can’t believe that you’re in Not Vampires. I definitely would like to come to a show sometime. That would be AWESOME! I’ll let you know when I’m back around home :)._

_-Laura Hollis_

_P.S. ‘still little-now famous, hottie’ is just as bad as ‘little nerd hottie’. I’d still just prefer Laura._

Laura presses send and puts her phone away, finishes her croissant, and stands, taking her cup of hot chocolate with her. Remembering the paparazzi outside, she rummages around in her bag for her sunglasses, although only using one hand is making it difficult. She finally manages to wrench them out of her bag when she hears a timid voice.

“Uhm…e-excuse me?” Laura raises her head and hums in acknowledgement, looking around before her eyes fall on a teenage girl who admittedly is taller than herself. “You’re Laura Hollis, right?”

"Oh! Yeah, Laura. That's me."

The teenager lets out a nervous smile before she talks again. "I'm a huge fan...I was wondering if I could get your autograph i-if it isn't a problem for you or anything."

Laura's grin widens. "Absolutely! Here, let's go sit." Laura sits back down at the table she just stood from and motions to the seat in front of her. The teenager shuffles on her feet.

"Are you sure I'm not holding you up? You were about to leave."

Laura waves off her concern. "It's totally fine, today's my day off so I have absolutely nothing to do. Except now I can talk to you! What's your name?"

The teenager grins and sits down before answering Laura's question. "I'm Tori." Laura nods.

"Hi Tori. So how old are you? Tell me about yourself--if you would like to that is." Laura smiles and takes a quick sip of her dwindling hot chocolate, giving Tori her full attention.

"Well, I'm seventeen. But there's not really much to tell in comparison to you."

"I hardly believe that. Let's see...when I was seventeen, I was a short little theater nerd in a small Canadian town, trying to figure out my sexuality, with a massively overprotective dad. And let me tell you, those school pictures were no professional head shots." Laura grimaces at the memory of her junior year school picture and shakes her head slightly. Yeah, not good.

This makes Tori laugh and relax a bit. Laura smiles again; she hates it when people are nervous about meeting her. She understands it, of course--she nearly fainted when she sat a couple rows behind Meryl Streep at the Oscars, but she is definitely not anywhere near Meryl status. Tori takes a deep breath before talking again. "Well, mostly the same for me, except exchange the Canadian with English and the overprotective dad with small-minded...I just really admire how unashamedly out you are."

Laura gives Tori a small smile and an understanding nod. "I'm all ears if you want to talk about it." Tori's eyes widen a bit at that.

"Are you sure? I've already taken up a lot of your time."

"Absolutely, although I might need a hot chocolate refill. Do you want anything?" Tori shakes her head. "Alright, I'll be right back." Laura gets up from the table to go get another hot chocolate.

A few minutes later she comes back to the table with hot chocolate in one hand and a couple of cookies on a plate in the other. She sets the cookies down on the table as she sits and slides them over to Tori. She takes one from the pile and takes a bite, raising her eyebrow questioningly at Tori. Tori smiles and grabs a cookie, munching on it as Laura alternates between cookie bites and cocoa sips. Once Laura finishes her cookie she wipes her hands together to get off all the remaining crumbs. "Ok, now I'm ready." With only a little bit of prompting, Tori starts talking and then they just don't stop the conversation.

Laura completely loses track of time and is invested in her conversation when her phone rings. She startles and starts to rummage through her back. "Sorry," she looks at Tori and then at her phone which she finally got free from her bag. It's Perry. Uh-oh. Laura looks at the time on her phone and sees that she's been in the cafe for nearly two hours. "I should take this." Laura grimaces slightly as she answers the phone, fully knowing what to expect.

"LAURA. HOLLIS." Yep, that's Perry's mom voice. "Two hours since you've gone to lunch, not a single text or phone call, and you aren't in the hotel."

Laura scrunches up her nose. "Sorry Perry. I got caught up in some conversation...I'll head back to the hotel soon." There's a huff on the other side of the phone and the sound of movement.

"It's fine, L. Take your time," LaF's voice comes through the phone, "you just know how Perr worries." Laura nods, even though they can't see it through phone conversation.

"Yeah, alright. I'll see you guys soon. Tell Perry that I'm sorry for worrying her."   

"Sure thing."

Laura ends the call and places her phone on the table with a sigh. She looks at Tori apologetically. "Sorry about that, I forgot to call my friend and she worries. I should probably get going though. It was so great talking with you." Laura smiles at Tori.

"Yeah, no. Thanks for talking to me." Laura starts to gather up her things and stands to leave before smacking herself in the forehead.

"Oh man! I almost forgot." Laura reaches in her bag and takes out a pen before searching around the table and surroundings. "You totally asked for an autograph earlier and I didn't even give you one." Tori can't help but laugh and shake her head.

"It's fine. I came up to you for an autograph and instead got to spend two hours talking to you. That's so much more than an autograph."

"Still..." Laura grabs the plate that the cookies were once on. She gently wipes the crumbs off before leaning down to write on it.

_Tori-_

_Talking to you was the highlight of my day. Also, don't worry. I think that everything will fall into place for you soon enough, sometimes you just have to push the shapes a little harder to get them into the spots you want them to go, but they'll give eventually. I hope that made sense...it made sense in my mind and I wrote it in pen so I can't erase it. We're gonna go with it... If you ever need someone to talk to again feel free to contact me somehow. (I answer most things except smoke signals.)_

_-Laura Hollis_

Laura caps her pen and puts it back in her bag before handing the plate to Tori. "There we go." Laura pulls Tori into a hug before releasing her and grabbing her empty got chocolate cup from the table. "It was so nice meeting you, Tori." Laura throws her hot chocolate away and heads to leave the cafe. Before she exits, she turns back toward Tori, and waves goodbye. Tori waves back, holding the plate in the other hand.

Laura shoulders the door open and is about to pull down her sunglasses when she realizes that the sun is already setting. She shrugs and makes her way back to the hotel, glad that it seems the paparazzi have dissipated. It takes five minute to get back to the hotel and two more to get in the elevator and up to her room. She opens the door to her room to find Perry sitting at the edge of the bed and LaF sitting at the head of the bed, behind Perry, watching the television.

"Hey guys, how was the art gallery?" Perry jumps up, grabs Laura's bag before she can even drop it, and places it nicely on the hotel room desk, all the while answering Laura's question.

"Oh it was nice. There were some very interesting pieces of modern art there."

"One of the pieces was a piece of trash." LaF pipes up.

"LaFontaine!"

"What? It wasn't an insult or anything, that's what it was Perr. One of the pieces of modern 'art'--LaF uses air quotes-- was a trash can." Laura can't help but laugh as Perry sits back down on the bed.

"Sounds interesting." Laura flops face down onto the other side of the bed, joining them. She kicks off her shoes without moving her position. LaF pokes her in the back of the head and she swats their hand away before flipping onto her back.

"So what had you so held up?" LaF questions, Perry turns too, wanting to know the answer.

"Oh!" Laura smiles and looks at them. "I was talking with a fan and we lost track of time."

"For two hours? Must've been a good conversation then." Laura nods.

"Yeah. She reminded me a bit of myself when I was seventeen, plus she was going through some things and I was happy to listen." Perry smiles and rests her hand on Laura's knee for a moment.

"That's so nice....just please call next time." Laura laughs.

"Sure thing, Perry." Perry and LaFontaine go back to watching tv--it's another documentary of some sort--while Laura fishes her phone out of her pocket. She checks her emails, there have been no new ones since Kirsch's, and then goes onto Twitter. She goes to her twitter feed and a tweet catches her eye.

_Tori Lloyd: @LauraHollis Thank you._

Laura follows Tori and tweets about her nice day off. She's about to log off of twitter when there's a tweet at the top of her feed from a certain band. She immediately remembers Kirsch's email and grins. She taps on the band's twitter and sees who they're following. She sees Kirsch's picture--he hasn't changed much-- and follows him. She scrolls down until she sees the name Carmilla Karnstein. The picture is of a cat with its eyes scratches out which doesn't surprise Laura based upon what she's heard about Carmilla's personality.

After only a moment of hesitation she presses follow before locking her phone and turning her eyes to the documentary on the television that was currently depicting a snake swallowing a mouse whole. Perry has turned away from the screen but LaF is watching intently. Laura's eyes widen a bit.

"Why does this always happen when you have control of the remote?" LaFontaine just laughs in response.

 

The bell above the door chimes and Carmilla sighs, peeking up over her book to look at the entrance of the store. She goes back to her book when she notices that it's a regular. Good, she doesn't feel like being an attentive worker at the moment--not that she ever really does. She props her feet up onto the counter and turns the page of her book.

After a couple of minutes, Carmilla hears the shuffling of feet and a pile of books is set onto the counter next to her feet. She pulls her feet down and sits up before going through the pile of books, checking all the prices on them. She inputs their prices into the register, simply to get a count of how much tax there is.

"$12.47." She slides the books back over to the old man who comes in every couple of days, as he grabs his wallet and gives her exact change. Carmilla takes the money and puts it in the register. The old man picks up his books, tips his hat to her, and leaves. Just like every time he comes into the store. Carmilla actually doesn't mind the old man, though, since he always pays with exact change and never really talks. Really, a lot of the regular customers that she gets at the bookstore are like that. It's probably the one reason why she doesn't hate her job, other than the atmosphere.

She has worked at Dean's bookstore for three years now, but most of her work days consist of reading books and writing lyrics. It's a small old-fashioned bookstore that carries mostly obscure or older books. Most of the prices are even manually put on the books by the owner since they don't have an actual price tag anymore. Carmilla loves the store itself; it's cozy. The owner basically lets her run the store and only comes in when Carmilla says that she can’t or just drops in to say hi. What she doesn't love are the obnoxious people who sometimes come in and talk loud enough for the entire street to hear. Those people ruin the illusion that she's not really working and force her to actually pay attention.

She picks her book back up and continues reading from where she left off, her eyes scanning the page. Just as she's about to turn the page her phone chimes. She rests the book in her lap and grabs her phone, looking at her messages. It’s from Kirsch or The Annoying Puppy as he’s named in her phone.

_(3:37 pm) From The Annoying Puppy: U WON’T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED_

_(3:37 pm) From The Annoying Puppy: I’LL TELL AT WILLS_

Carmilla sighs before answering him.

_(3:38 pm) To The Annoying Puppy: I guess I’ll be there after I close then._

_(3:39pm) From The Annoying Puppy: K_

Carmilla looks at the time and then around the store. It has been a pretty dead day, so closing twenty minutes early wouldn’t do any harm. She opens the register and counts the money before taking it out and putting it in the locked safe box hidden under the counter. Gathering her book and shrugging on her jacket, she twirls her keys around her finger as she walks out from around the counter. She does a quick sweep of the store, making sure that no one had fallen asleep reading a book in the aisles—it sounds ridiculous, but it’s happened before. After making sure that the bookstore is customer free she heads to the door, flips the sign to ‘closed’, turns off the lights, and locks the door behind her.

Carmilla stuffs her free hand into her jacket pocket while her other grips the book. She starts her walk to Will’s and knows she’ll be there in ten to fifteen minutes, depending on traffic. The walk has basically become second nature to her with how many times she’s taken this route. Like clockwork, twelve minutes later she’s standing in front of Will’s studio apartment. She tucks her book into her pocket and raps her knuckles against the door twice and waits until she hears footsteps approaching the door. As soon as the door opens she shoulders her way into the apartment, the door closing again behind her.

She takes off her jacket and tosses it onto the couch next to Kirsch who is excitedly bouncing his leg up and down. She plops down onto the other side of the couch from him and puts her feet up onto the coffee table. Will walks around the couch and sits down in the chair across from it.

“Hello to you too, Kitty.” Carmilla throws her hand up in greeting. Will turns to Kirsch who is still bouncing his leg up and down. “Now that Carmilla’s here, will you tell us what’s got you so excited now?”

Kirsch grins before he starts explaining. “So! I totally did it!” He is met with confused looks as he elaborates. “I texted the little ner—Laura, about coming to see a show sometime and she answered me. Dudes, look!” Kirsch tosses his phone at Carmilla, who looks offended at it when it lands in her lap. Sighing, she picks the phone up and her eyes scan through the email, eyebrow raised by the end of it. Without a word she tosses the phone to Will, who reads it over quickly.

“Woah, this is great! Nice job, Kirsch!” Will tosses Kirsch back his phone and Kirsch grins. Carmilla swears that there would be a tail wagging if he had one. Will and Kirsch both turn to Carmilla in her silence. Carmilla looks between the two for a moment before focusing on Kirsch.

“Yeah. Good job, you.” Kirsch rolls his eyes but keeps his smile. He knows that Carmilla means the sentiment in her own way.

“Oh! And she totally follows me on twitter now too.” Kirsch checks his phone and jumps up. “Well, this guy’s gotta go. Can’t keep my girl waiting.” He claps Will on the shoulder as he passes and salutes to Carmilla. “See ya later, bros. Text me when we’re gonna have practice tomorrow.”

Will says goodbye and Carmilla offers another wave to Kirsch as he exits the apartment. “So,” Will starts as the door clicks shut, “You haven’t been answering calls.” Carmilla sighs.

“Do we seriously have to do this right now?”

“She asked me to-“

“And you always do what she says, don’t you?” Will’s face sours.

“Why do you always have to be like this? Why don’t you just answer the phone once and hear her out?”

“You know exactly why.” Carmilla scowls and Will runs his hand through his hair with a sigh.

“Fine. I’ll drop it for now. But she keeps asking for you.”

Carmilla scoffs. “Of course she does.”

An awkward silence fills the room. “Listen-“

Carmilla stands abruptly. “I should go.” Will sighs and nods as Carmilla picks up her jacket. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Will stands with her and walks her to the door. He opens it but grabs her elbow before she can leave.

“I’m sorry about bringing it up, but you know how she is.” Carmilla nods curtly but doesn’t say anything. “Let’s just be ready to practice tomorrow; our next gig is soon.” Carmilla gives Will a tight smile and tugs her arm free.

“Sure thing, Willy Boy.” Carmilla puts her jacket on and is out the door before he can say anything else. Will simply closes the door, with a deep sigh, behind her. During the entire walk back to her apartment, Carmilla’s mind is somewhere else and before she knows it she’s standing in front of her door. She fishes her keys out of her jean pockets and opens the door.

She takes her book from her jacket pocket, tossing the jacket off to the side and moving further into her apartment. She places the book onto the coffee table, eyes the disconnected phone for a moment, and heads into the kitchen to get dinner. She searches through her cabinets and fridge, but the only thing she can find are pieces of bread and bottles of different types of alcohol. Sighing, she puts the pieces of bread in the toaster and grabs the strawberry jelly from the fridge. She makes a mental note to herself that she needs to go food shopping tomorrow. Her fingers subconsciously tap out a beat on the kitchen counter as she waits for the toaster to pop. As soon as it does, she grabs the toast and spreads jelly onto the two pieces. She holds one in her hand and the other in between her teeth as she moves about the kitchen.

Carmilla glances at the whiskey on the kitchen counter and grabs the already half empty bottle with her free hand. She moves back into the living room and sits on the couch, placing the whiskey onto the table. She takes her time eating the two pieces of toast, but even with taking her time she’s finished in five minutes. She wipes her hands together to get rid of any crumbs stuck on them and opens the whiskey, taking a swig straight from the bottle. It stings the back of her throat but she’s used to it; it barely affects her anymore. She takes another swig and then takes her phone out, going through twitter.

Since she tweeted Kirsch and the band twitter, she’s gotten a bunch of new followers—although she follows no one—and a lot more people tweet her. It would probably be annoying if Carmilla really cared enough about it to be annoyed. Thinking back to what Kirsch has told her earlier, she notices that Laura Hollis is now following her. She goes to the bands twitter to see that Laura has tweeted them.

_Laura Hollis: @NotVampires so why the name Not Vampires? Just curious_

Carmilla smirks at her phone and takes a drink before answering.

_Carmilla Karnstein: @LauraHollis People always think we’re vampires. We’re not._

That really is all there is to the name. Carmilla, as cliché as it is, only really cares about the music, not the name of the band. She locks her phone and tosses it aside, reaching instead for her beaten up notebook and a pen. She opens up the notebook and turns to a fresh page. With whiskey in one hand, pen in the other, and the conversation she had with Will fresh in her mind, she starts filling the page with words.

 


	3. Hold onto hope if you've got it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been more than two years. I'm so sorry about that. Life happened. I've had literally 85% of this chapter written since maybe a month after a published the last chapter but I'm trash. I hope you enjoy :)

Laura adjusts the sun glasses on her face as she walks out of the plane terminal with one of her costars, David. LaF and Perry had left the day before her in order to get back to their apartment, but Laura has different plans. She says goodbye to David as he hurries off to catch the plane back to LA. Laura turns the other way and heads toward--she glances at her ticket--Terminal E.

She has a while before her next flight, so she takes her time getting there. She pulls her sunglasses onto the top of her head and walks leisurely, her carry-on bumping against her hip every other step. She spots a Dunkin' Donuts up ahead and immediately changes course. She needs a pick-me-up, and hot chocolate and a donut sounds pretty much perfect to her. She orders a small hot chocolate and a dozen munchkins of assorted flavors.

With hot chocolate in one hand and munchkins in the other, she reaches Terminal E and takes a seat, shrugging her carry-on off of her shoulder as she does. She opens her little box of munchkins and pops one into her mouth. Looking around, she notices that she's one of the only ones at the terminal, but there is still an hour or two before actual boarding so she's not surprised. She gets into a rhythm of taking a couple sips of her cocoa and then eating a munchkin, continuing the pattern until she's out. She frowns slightly but throws out her trash, contemplating whether she should go back for more. The inner Perry in her head convinces her not to.

Sighing, she plops back down in her seat and takes out the book she had been reading during her last flight. She flips to the page she had been at and immediately becomes engrossed in the book. For the better of an hour she reads the book, flipping page after page. She's only pulled out of her trance when they call that the plane is now boarding.

Laura blinks and raises her head from her book. There a much more noticeable crowd of people around the gate than there was earlier. She closes the book gently and puts it back in her carry on. Taking out her ticket, she slides the strap of her carry on back onto her shoulders and stands. She makes her way to the gate in a line of other passenger all boarding.

In ten minutes, Laura is boarding the plane and finding her seat. She finds it quickly; it's a window seat in first class. Laura takes out her book, puts her carry on in the overhead, and slides into her seat. She really just hopes that whoever she's sitting next to isn't obnoxious. It isn't a long flight, but two hours is a long time to deal with a complete stranger.

A few minutes later she meets her seat mate for the next two hours; it’s a tall, suited, business-looking man who's still on his phone. Laura groans internally. She opens her book back up and tries to ignore his loud conversation on the phone. Thankfully, he's only on the phone for another couple of moments before he ends the call and puts it away, taking out his laptop. Okay, so maybe he will be absorbed in work the entire flight and not be obnoxious (Laura can only hope.) Once everyone has boarded the flight attendant goes through the typical pre-flight speech, the pilot gives his spiel and after that, they're in the air.

Apparently, as Laura quickly finds out, her seat mate is seated across the aisle from a friend of his. "Hey, Tom! How are you?" Laura tries to ignore the friend across the aisle and just concentrate on her book. Her seat mate, Tom as she's found out, however, has a different plan for the flight as he obnoxiously answers.

"Steve! I'm good man, what about you? Still with that one broad?" He then flags the flight attendant for a scotch. Laura's grip on her book tightens as she tries to stay out of it. Steve bellows a laugh and nods.

"Yeah, I am. She may be only good for one thing, but she's really good at that thing." Steve wriggles his eyebrows and Tom laughs. Laura sets her jaw and repeatedly tells herself to not get involved and cause a scene. Danny would kill her if she found out that happened and the media would have a field day.

That's something that Laura doesn't like about being a celebrity; she is put on a pedestal and everyone is watching her every move, especially the media, just waiting to find a reason to tear her down. Everybody wants dirt and drama. Laura has really had to tone herself down in public because of all this and because Danny tells her it's the best thing to do. If this were a couple of years ago, Laura would have absolutely torn into the two business men, telling them off for the way they are speaking.

"Maybe you can let me take a turn next time we're in town." That's it. Screw the media. Laura snaps her book shut and slams it down on the fold-down table in front of her, gaining the attention of the two business men, as well as most of the people in first-class that aren't wearing headphones or asleep. She turns and looks both of the men in the eye as she talks.

"Is that really how you see women? You are both complete sleaze balls. Women are not things, we are not sexual objects used only for your pleasure. We are equals and deserve the same respect. Do you think your 'broad' back home speaks about you the same way you speak about her?" Laura stares at Steve and says, "Do you?" when he doesn't answer. Now she really has the attention of the entire cabin.

Steve shakes his head, but Tom speaks up. "What are you doing butting into our conversation? It was a private one."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Laura's voice drips with sarcasm, “is it not an open conversation when you are talking across the aisle to each other loud enough for the entire cabin to hear your conversation and subjecting all the women in here to listen to your misogynistic drivel? I had no idea that wasn't proper etiquette. But I mean, I guess your loud talking was a good thing because now everyone in this cabin knows that you're both slime." Laura takes a deep breath and picks up her book again, looking at the business men, whose mouths are sort of agape. "Have a shitty day." With that she opens her book and turns her attention back to the page. So she may have taken the last line from Donny in Orphan Black, but it just felt right.

She hears Tom start to collect his things and he's obviously angry if the noise he is making is any indication. He goes off to sit in an unoccupied seat and Laura lets out a content sigh. She feels like she's being watched, so she glances up from her book. A lot of the cabin is still looking at her with surprised looks on their faces, but her eyes land on an older woman across the aisle and a couple of seats up. The woman gives her a thumbs-up and a smile; Laura can't help but give a small smile back before she goes back to her book.

The rest of the flight is pretty uneventful, she doesn't tell anyone else off and she doesn't hear from the two men again. The pilot goes on the intercom and announces that they're landing soon, so Laura shuts her book and buckles her seat belt.

Within the next half an hour, they're on the ground and she's exiting the plane, grabbing her carry on, and heading into the airport. She feels some people looking at her as she looks around the airport, but she ignores the looks until she locates the one she's looking for. Once she finds it her face lights up and she walks as quickly as she can to Sherman Hollis without running. She's immediately scooped up into a bear hug and enveloped in a warmth that she really missed.

"Hey, Dad." She mutters near intelligibly into the man's shoulder as she nuzzles into the hug a bit more.

"Hey, peanut." With one last squeeze, he lets go of Laura and she drops back down to the ground. They immediately go to the luggage pick-up and Sherman picks up Laura's suitcase. She argues with him that she should carry her own luggage, but they end up conceding on Laura taking her carry on while Sherman takes her suitcase. They make small talk as they head toward Sherman's old truck that he still hasn't gotten rid of.

He hauls Laura's suitcase into the bed of the truck and Laura's thankful that it's a nice day. It would be pretty cramped inside the truck if the suitcase had to be stuffed inside. Like usual, it's a little bit of a struggle for Laura to get into the truck but she pulls herself into it with a grunt. Her dad slides behind the wheel and turns the truck on as Laura shuts the door and buckles up.

"So," Sherman talks as he starts to back the truck up, "tell me all about what you've been up to." Laura rolled her eyes.

"I talk to you every week, dad. There isn't much that you don't already know." She obliges him anyway. Laura talks about all the things she's done since she's last seen her dad and he listens intently, interjecting every now and then with questions. It makes the car ride pass quickly, so Laura can't complain.

It's seems like no time has passed at all before Laura sees the tell tale sign of home--one of her neighbor's odd sculptures that he had made right outside of town. She finishes talking and looks out of the window at her home town, eyes surveying what she sees. Her dad glances at her several times as they make their way through town, a small smile on his face.

A grin spreads across Laura's face as her dad pulls the car into a parking lot. He clears his throat before speaking, "I thought you might be hungry." Laura all but launches out of the truck and Sherman just laughs, happy to see that his daughter hasn't changed too much.

"You have no idea how much I missed this place." Laura quickly starts walking toward her favorite diner, Le Fanu's. Sherman follows slightly behind her, shaking his head.

"I think I had an inkling." Laura basically bursts through the front door, the bell chiming. She looks around the diner and sees that not much has changed. It is still just as home-y feeling as it used to be. Her dad comes up behind her and claps his hands lightly on her shoulders. "Sherri! Look who's back in town!"

The woman behind the counter looks up from serving a customer at Sherman and then her eyes settle on Laura. She smiles brightly, finishes serving the man, and makes her way over to the pair. "I thought I recognized that door opening enthusiasm." Laura laughs and hugs the woman. "How are you doing, dear?" Sherri's voice softens.

Laura's smile tightens. "I...I'm good." Sherri squeezes Laura's shoulder comfortingly before looking up at her dad.

"And don't you worry, I've been keeping this one in line since you've been gone."

"Hey!" Laura chuckles and shakes her head at the exchange.

"So, the usual spot?" Sherri hikes her thumb over her shoulder at the corner booth that Laura so often used to frequent. Laura nods and makes her way over to the booth, sliding in one side while her dad slides into the other side. Sherri places the menu's down on the table and tells them to let her know when they're ready as she heads to another customer.

"Thanks, Sherri!" The Hollis' call back in unison, making Sherri laugh.

"Some things don't change I guess." She says back.

Laura picks up the menu despite already knowing exactly what she wants to eat. A couple minutes later, Sherri returns to take their order and Laura lets the menu drop back down to the table. Sherri is writing down her usual order of waffles before she can even get the words out of her mouth. Her dad gets a BLT, but Laura can eat waffles for any meal of the day--it's almost preferable to her.

There's a lull in conversation as they wait for their food and Laura taps on the table as she looks around. Sherman watches his daughter with a little concern. "So how was your flight?"

Laura groans and runs her hands down her face. "Awful. You will not believe what happened."

\----------------------------------------

Hours later, with a full stomach and completely exhausted, Laura crawls into her old bed and melts into the mattress. She rolls over to where she put her phone on the nightstand and grabs it. She presses her second speed dial and brings the phone to her ear. She rolls back onto her back and looks at the ceiling as she talks.

"Hey," she says fondly, "I just wanted to let you know that I got home fine, even if the flight was a bit hectic...No, I won't bother you with that right now; it really was no big deal, I promise....yeah. Well I'm jet lagged so I'm gonna go to bed, good night. Yeah, I love you too." Laura ends the call with a sigh and places the phone back on her night stand. She closes her eyes and falls asleep almost immediately.

Laura wakes up to the smell of French toast and the sound of her phone ringing. She groans and throws her hand toward her night table until her hand lands on something square shaped. She swipes her thumb across the screen to answer the call without opening her eyes to see who it is and brings the phone up to her ear. "....hello?"

"Laura!" She immediately pulls the phone away from her ear at the volume her name is being yelled.

"...good morning, Danny."

" _Good_ morning? It is definitely not a good morning Laura. Do you know what I woke up to this morning? A video circulating online with you tearing into a man on a plane!" Laura groans. "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

"I didn't think it was a big deal is all." Laura runs her free hand down her face in an attempt to wake herself up. She sits up and hops out of her bed.

"Well it is a big deal! Look Laura," Laura can hear Danny's frustration over the phone and can imagine her running her hand through her hair right now, "I'm just trying to do my job; you have to tell me when things like this happen so I can do damage control as soon as possible." Laura sighs and rolls her eyes as she walks out of her bedroom.

"Sure. I'll let you know as soon as I have another urge to chew out a misogynistic jerk." Danny sighs.

"Laura-"

"Sorry Danny, my dad needs me right now."

"Really Laura? You're gonna use the dad excuse? You know-" Laura pulls the phone away from her ear and ends the call. She takes a deep breath before walking down stairs and heading into the kitchen.

She greets her dad with a smile. "Good morning." Her dad looks over his shoulder at her from the stove.

"Morning kiddo." He turns back to the stove and flips the French toast over, "so, wanna talk about that argument you were having over the phone?" Laura walks to the fridge and grabs orange juice out of it. She shakes her head.

"Not really." Sherman gives a small nod, almost to himself.

They move through the kitchen in a perfect, memorized routine; Sherman flips the other piece of French toast and uses his free hand to reach up and grab a cup from the cabinet, reaching it behind him for Laura to grab as she walks past. Laura takes the glass, pours orange juice, grabs a mug from beside the coffee machine and fills the mug. She reaches up and grabs two plates, setting them next to the stove just as Sherman takes the French toast off of pan. Laura takes the drinks to the table while her dad places the French toasts in their places. The syrup and butter is already on the table; Laura takes the butter first and Sherman takes the syrup. Laura adds a little bit of butter to the French toast as Sherman pours the syrup into a puddle next to his French toast. The switch at the same time and Sherman lathers his French toast in butter as Laura smothers hers in syrup. They place the syrup and butter back down on the table at the same time and burst into laughter.

"It's nice to know we still have our rhythm, huh?" Laura smiles and nods before starting her breakfast, Sherman following right after her.

"So," Sherman talks between bites, "anything planned for today? You're here for a week right?"

Laura nods. "Yeah, a week and then I'm off again on press tour. And I might have something planned today? I don't know...I have to call someone." Her dad hums an answer.

"I look forward to seeing the movie, what with all the buzz about it."

Laura fakes a look of insult, "are you saying you weren't looking forward to seeing my other movies?" She clamps her hand on her heart in shock.

"Yep." They hold straight faces for a few seconds before breaking out into laughs. "Alright, well I'm gonna be working in the garage if you need me." He hikes his thumb over his shoulder and Laura nods. He takes both his and Laura's finished plates and puts them in the sink to be washed later before heading out if the kitchen.

Laura sits at the table for a moment and taps her fingers on top of it nervously. She takes out her phone and starts going through her contacts before her thumb hovers over Kirsch's name. They had talked a couple more times since he had initially contacted her and he had given her his phone number in order to contact him more easily. She presses his contact and calls him, bringing her phone up to her ear. It rings two times before he picks up.

"Hello?"

"Hey. Hi, Kirsch. It's Laura. Laura Hollis."

"Laura! Hey! What's up?" Laura could hear him shuffling around a lot on the other side of the phone.

"Oh uh, I just wanted to tell you that I'm back at home for the week. I was wondering if you guys had any gigs or anything soon." There's more noise from the other side of the phone and a muffled celebratory 'yes!'. "Kirsch?"

"Oh right! Yeah totally! We actually have a show tomorrow night; I can send you the details and everything later."

"Cool, sounds good! Thanks Kirsch, I'm really looking forward to it!" Laura grins.

"Ditto, see ya tomorrow Lit--Laura." Kirsch catches himself.

"Bye Kirsch." Laura ends the call and takes a deep breath. Alright, so she has a day to waste before she sees one of her favorite bands.

\------------------------------------------

Carmilla is getting ready to head to the bookshop when she opens the door and Kirsch barrels past her. Carmilla grunts as he shoulders her excitedly. She over exaggerates his push to her shoulder and uses the momentum to turn toward him. “What is it now?” As soon as she looks at him, she quirks up an eyebrow. “You’re practically vibrating.” Kirsch has a huge grin on his face and is basically bouncing up and down on his heels.

“You won’t believe what happened earlier!” Kirsch would’ve come right away after Laura called, but that probably would have meant waking up Carmilla early and he didn’t have a death wish.

“Oh no! Did Timmy fall in the well again?” Carmilla mockingly gasps and Kirsch looks confused for a moment before rolling his eyes.

“No,” he drawls the word out, “Laura’s back in town and she called me!” Carmilla looks at him unimpressed.

“Laura?”

“Dude, Laura Hollis! She wants to come to a show, so she’s coming to tomorrow’s.” Carmilla maintains her indifferent face and nods.

“Alright, is that it? I’ve got to get to work.” Kirsch quickly takes a look around her apartment to see that it looks the same as always, with bottles on the table, and nods with a sigh. Carmilla holds the door open and motions for him to leave.

“I’ll see you later.” Carmilla nods and Kirsch walks past her, heading toward the coffee shop he works at. Carmilla hangs back in her apartment for a minute, processing what Kirsch had just told her. She shakes her head to herself to clear her thoughts; so what if Laura Hollis was coming to their show tomorrow, it didn’t make any difference (except it did). She walks out of her apartment, closing and locking the door behind her before heading to work.

Work is slow as usual, and Carmilla finds herself alternating between reading, writing, and perusing her phone. It’s while doing the latter most thing that something catches her attention. She may or may not have been googling ‘Laura Hollis’—she would deny it with all her might—when an interesting video is the first thing that comes up. She clicks on the link and reads the title of the video; ‘ _Laura Hollis telling two dicks off on my plane_ ’. Carmilla smirks at the title and plays the video. The video is grainy—it was obviously taken with a phone—but Carmilla can still make out Laura easily, looking angry and yelling at two men, one next to her and the other across the aisle.

_“…Women are not things, we are not sexual objects used only for your pleasure. We are equals and deserve the same respect. Do you think your 'broad' back home speaks about you the same way you speak about her?...Do you?"_

_"What are you doing butting into our conversation? It was a private one."_

_"Oh, I'm sorry, is it not an open conversation when you are talking across the aisle to each other loud enough for the entire cabin to hear your conversation and subjecting all the women in here to listen to your misogynistic drivel? I had no idea that wasn't proper etiquette. But I mean, I guess your loud talking was a good thing because now everyone in this cabin knows that you're both slime. Have a shitty day."_ Carmilla can’t help but let out a laugh, she’s shocked but impressed that all that ferocity had come out of the small woman. Tomorrow ought to be interesting. 

The rest of the day and the day after pass quickly and before Carmilla knows it, she, Will, and Kirsch are doing a sound check before the show. Carmilla taps the mic to make sure it’s on, moving to the amps afterward. Will is hooking his guitar up to his amp while Kirsch fiddles with the knobs on the amp for his drum. Carmilla grabs her bass from side stage and plugs it into the last amp, playing a few chords in order to check the sound of it. They do a run through of a couple of songs before setting their instruments down and heading backstage.

Kirsch is hyper, even more so than usual tonight, which is saying something. Will stands next to Carmilla and bumps shoulders with her. “Tonight could be a big deal, at least act like you’re excited to play.” Carmilla rolls her eyes.

“I’m always excited to play; I thought it showed with my ball of sunshine-ness.” Her tone is completely dry, but her smirk lets Will know that she’s joking.

He nods with a chuckle. “My mistake.”

The head of the venue comes in to let them know that they’re opening the doors now. Carmilla and Will nod nearly in sync while Kirsch taps his thumbs rhythmically on his bottle of water. Carmilla concedes to herself that Will is right, for once, tonight definitely could be a big deal.

 

Laura walked around the line of people forming at the entrance in order to head to the back entrance like Kirsch had told her to do. Luckily no one really recognizes her, but that isn't really surprising given her small height and she had dressed down in just a plain t-shirt and some old jeans. She reaches the back entrance, which is really just an emergency exit, and knocks on the metal.

A second later the door opens to reveal a woman, taller than Laura, and in a very pink shirt. Her eyes widen as she looks at Laura. "Holy crap. He wasn't kidding."

Understanding washes over Laura once the woman speaks. "Oh! You must be SJ. Kirsch told me about you." She smiles and holds out her hand. SJ takes her hand and gives it a shake before practically pulling Laura into the building.

The door clangs shut behind them and Laura's immediately immersed in the bustling back stage. SJ is hooked around her arm and she leans down to say what's happening in Laura's ear. "They've started letting people in now, so they're gonna start in about fifteen minutes." Laura nods to let SJ know she heard her.

With their arms hooked together, SJ leads them around backstage, showing Laura where everything is. Laura listens as intently as she can to the very excitable woman, but her attention is being drawn everywhere around her. Finally, SJ comes to a stop in front of a door. She turns to Laura, "They're gonna go on soon so they won't really be able to talk, but we can at least do introductions now." Laura nods as SJ opens the door and she mentally prepares herself.

SJ bolts in, calling out for Kirsch and Laura hesitantly enters after her, closing the door behind her quietly. She hadn't noticed that the room had fallen quiet around her as she closed the door. When she turns back around, all eyes in the room are on her. "Uh....hi" Laura raises her hand in greeting and smiles.

A man in the corner, who she easily recognizes as Kirsch, grins widely and fist pumps excitedly. "Yes! Dudes tonight is gonna be great!" He quickly rushes over to Laura and escorts her further into the room and toward an unoccupied chair.

"It's nice to see you too, Kirsch." Laura laughs a bit. Kirsch opens his mouth to reply before there's a knocking on the door and a call for the band to go on stage.

"Sorry, little nerd hottie, we'll talk after the show!" Kirsch rushes out, pecking SJ on the lips as he does. Laura's about to correct him, but he's already out the door.

The next person to move is a tall, dark-haired man, with pale skin; she understands the confusion with the vampires now. He approaches her, holding out his hand. "I'm Will. Hopefully we'll talk afterward." Laura smiles and nods.

" Yeah, I hope we will....Will" she ends awkwardly. Will chuckles as he leaves the room. SJ leaves right after Will to take her place at the wing of the stage and Laura takes a deep breath, until she sees movement from the corner of her eye.

Carmilla languidly gets up from the couch and moves to the door. She opens the door, but turns back to Laura before walking through. "Enjoy the show, sweetheart." She winks and exits the room.

It takes Laura ten seconds to remember to breathe again. It takes her another second to think and actually move to leave the room. So _that's_ Carmilla. Laura thinks that she's even more beautiful in person. No--Laura shakes her head--she's here to listen to the music, not drool over one of the band members.

Laura exits the room and heads to the wing of the stage that SJ had shown her earlier. She comes to a stop next to the aforementioned girl and looks across the stage. Kirsch, Will, and Carmilla are lined up on the other side, ready to go out.

The lights dim and the talkative crowd gets even louder with screams; SJ's possibly being the loudest. Laura can't pass up the opportunity and takes her phone out to record the crowd, laughing, until she adds in her own cheering.

Kirsch rushes out onto stage, Will following after him more slowly, and Carmilla basically saunters to the microphone, foregoing her bass for the moment. Will grabs his guitar and Kirsch twirls his sticks between his fingers. Carmilla looks behind her at Will and Kirsch, giving a curt nod. Without any introduction, they start into the first song and Laura's completely entranced; seeing a band live is so much different than listening to a song on her phone.

They move from song to song, only pausing when Carmilla needs to grab her bass or put it aside. By the fourth song, Laura is belting out the lyrics with the crowd as she takes another video, panning the crowd, the band, and then herself and SJ briefly.

 

Carmilla feels exhilarated, as she always does when she's performing live, but a bit more so than usual. Tonight could be huge for the band. Carmilla glances over to the wing of the stage and sees Laura singing along with her. She smirks a bit before turning her attention back to the crowd.

As soon as they finish their set, Carmilla is off the stage and headed back toward the green room. Will is trailing a bit behind her, and Kirsch has gone off to get SJ and Laura. Carmilla falls back onto the couch in the same position she was in before their set. Will tosses her a water bottle before returning to his spot.

“We were awesome out there tonight. You were definitely getting into it.” Will says before he takes a sip of water and Carmilla hums in agreement. “Although maybe that was because of a certain audience member…” Will trails off and is met only by Carmilla’s glare. Before she can further berate Will, the door swings open and Kirsch’s excited voice fills the room.

“That was awesome!” Kirsch is practically bouncing around the room while giving SJ a piggy back ride. Laura enters the room behind them, with a huge smile on her face.

“You guys were amazing!” Laura beamed and remains standing as Kirsch and SJ share a seat. Will reaches over and pushes Carmilla’s feet off of the couch.

“Please, sit down, Laura.” Laura smiles and nods, sitting next to Carmilla. Carmilla watches her with intrigue and Laura tries her best not to blush. She doesn’t succeed—Carmilla smirks.

“So what was your favorite part of the show, sweetheart?” Laura bristles a bit at the nickname, but turns to face Carmilla. Kirsch holds his breath across the room, knowing Laura’s hatred of nicknames like that, but releases it when she answers Carmilla’s question instead.

“Probably when you guys played “Bite Me”. The crowd went wild and it was—it was just awesome. And you guys played great. You always manage to get so much emotion into the song, but it’s so much better live.” Laura answers sincerely. Carmilla was taken back a bit, but she didn’t let it show.

“Bite Me, huh?” Laura nods.

“It’s actually my favorite song. It has so much emotion in it, being so angry at everything, including yourself, and yet longing for the connection of other still. Can I—can I ask what it’s about?” Will and Kirsh exchange glances at the same time Carmilla abruptly answers.

“No.”

“Oh. Sorry, that might’ve been inappropriate to ask. I was just wondering.”

“It’s no problem, Laura.” Will answered at the same time Carmilla responded.

“Yeah, well you should just butt out. You aren’t a real journalist like in your movie, stop acting like one. You’re doing a hack job at it anyway.” Laura’s face went red at the insult, but this time in anger. Kirsch’s eyes widened, recognizing the look from high school. SJ simply holds his hand, watching the scene curiously. Will hangs his head; he had been hoping to keep his sister from saying something stupid, but obviously he had failed miserably.

“It was just a question. You could’ve just said you didn’t want to answer and I would’ve accepted it. You didn’t need to insult me, you raging bi—bad person.” Laura collects her things and stands.

“Laura, wait!” Kirsch stands. “Please stay. Ignore her, that’s what I do most days.” Will moves to stand next to Kirsch and nods.

“Yes, please stay. We’re really happy you decided to come, no matter what my sister says.” Laura smiles weakly at the duo.

“I loved seeing you guys too, and I’d love to see you live again sometime, but I think I should go now. I’m in town for the rest of the week, though, so let me know if you want to hang out. That includes you too, SJ,” Laura looks around Kirsch to smile at SJ, “It was great getting to know you and rocking out with you.” Laura turns to look at Carmilla, the smile dropping from her face, face scrunching in anger. She turns and forces herself to leave before she says something bad, giving one last good bye as she leaves. As soon as the door shuts, everyone in the room turns to look at Carmilla who hasn’t moved since Laura stood up. She sitting completely still, with an almost impressed look on her face.

“What the fuck, Carm?” Will said angrily, throwing his hands up. “Why’d you have to insult Laura Hollis of all people? Laura. Hollis. I thought you liked her and her movies!?” Will was right, Carmilla does like Laura and her movies. She had planned to be civil but that song…it is a sore spot and her reaction was more of a defensive reflex than real animosity. She sighs and stands from the couch, walking out of the green room, ignoring the shouts of Will and Kirsch behind her.

She has to jog a little, but she catches Laura right before she leaves through the back exit. “Cupcake!” She calls, but Laura doesn’t stop or look. “Hey, Buttercup!” She tries but still no response. “Laura!” She finally calls and Laura stops suddenly at the door, turning around to face Carmilla with a raised eyebrow. Carmilla stops jogging and walks the rest of the way to Laura.

“Look…I’m sorry about what I said to you. I didn’t mean it at all. Isortofloveyourmovies.” Carmilla mumbles the last part quickly and Laura blinks, trying to decipher the information. Her mouth drops open a bit before she shakes herself of it, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“If you like my movies, then why did you say those things?” Carmilla sighs at Laura’s question and runs a hand through her hair.

“It was a gut reaction over a sensitive subject. I truly am sorry and I’m really happy that you came tonight too.” Her tone didn’t convey it, but Laura is sure that from what she saw tonight, Carmilla doesn’t apologize often, so she takes it.

Laura nods, “I accept your apology.”

“Good, I’m glad,” Carmilla smirks, “but I’d be even happier if you’d let me buy you a coffee or something while you’re here to make up for it.” This time Laura successfully fights off the blush since she’s still sort of mad.

“To make up for it?” Carmilla nods and Laura hums. “I’ll think about it.” Laura leans in close to Carmilla, thinking two could play at this game, letting her lips graze slightly across Carmilla’s cheek as she whispers in her ear, “Goodnight, Carmilla”. Without Laura pulls away and leaves the venue, a bit of a spring back in her step. She doesn’t hear the almost strangled bye directed back to her or Will, Kirsch, and SJ walking up to Carmilla afterward—having seen the whole exchange—asking Carmilla what had just happened.

Carmilla snaps herself out of it, shrugs, and walks back to the green room, “Don’t know about you guys—oh wait, I’m fine with that. I’m heading home.” With no further explanation, Carmilla leaves the venue, leaving Kirsch, Will, and SJ sharing knowing looks before the go to grab their things.

 

_Laura Hollis: Had an amazing time with @NotVampires despite a few bumps in the road! Seeing them live was truly an experience :)_

_Not Vampires: Thanks for coming to see us, Laura!! @Laura2theletter -Kirsch (and the others)_

When Laura gets home, she all but collapses into bed, only slipping off her jeans before climbing under the covers. She almost drifts to sleep before her eyes snap open and she picks up her flip phone, pressing her speed dial and bringing the phone up to her face.

“Hey…I had a great time at the concert, although after was a bit bumpy. I think it was salvaged though…Yeah, I might have a date later in the week because of it though…although I don’t know if it’s gonna be a date or actually just an extension of the apology. Well, just wanted to update you…I love you. Goodnight.” With that, Laura closes the flip phone and puts it on her nightstand before falling asleep.

 

The next day when Carmilla checks her twitter there’s the usual post-concert tweets, but then there’s a single tweet from Laura Hollis.

_Laura Hollis: @heycarmilla Yes._

Carmilla’s lips quirk up into a smile. She’s pretty sure she has a date with a famous actress this week.  

 

 


End file.
